Journalists and film critics vote in awards like the Golden Globes (90 international journalists in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) and the Critics' Choice Awards (Broadcast Film Critics Association).

Here's some interesting trivia: no matter how many votes a nominee receives, a winner's card for every nominee gets created by the official Oscar stationer. The two Pricewaterhouse Coopers accountants who add up the final count pick out the actual winners for the envelopes -- and then destroy the rest. You won't find any Oscars losers by sifting through the PwC dumpsters!

My impression from the 12 Years campaign slogan is that, yes, it's subtly nudging voters to consider the historical significance of awarding the big prize to a film helmed by a black director, that addresses this era of American history in a way that cinema has not done before. People tend to want to make decisions that put them on the right side of history.